title: A comparison of Twist and E-cadherin protein expression in primary non-small-cell lung carcinoma and corresponding metastases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The metastasis of solid tumors is directly or indirectly responsible for most cancer-related deaths. It has already been known that in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells, up-regulation of Twist (a highly conserved basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor) can promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition through down-regulation of E-cadherin. The main aim of this study was to determine whether the expression of Twist and E-cadherin differs between primary and metastatic lung carcinoma and to correlate Twist and E-cadherin expression in primary and metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirteen patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma and hematogenous metastases were studied in retrospect, and Twist and E-cadherin were detected by immunohistochemistry in 26 tissue samples from the 13 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We demonstrated that the expression of Twist was higher in metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma tissues than in primary non-small-cell lung carcinoma (p=0.008) and discordance of Twist expression was observed in 11 (85%) patients. For E-cadherin, 12 cases (92%) showed discordance between primary tumor and metastasis (p=0.002): E-cadherin expressed higher in the primary tumor than in the metastasis in 12 cases. We also found that increased Twist expression was correlated with decreased membranous E-cadherin expression (p=0.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data imply that Twist induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in non-small-cell lung carcinoma by reducing E-cadherin, then promoting metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, PR China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Hongchang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Xueru
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Zhenxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiajun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1